Dell Venue 11 Pro Windows 8.1 tablet goes up for sale

Back at the start of October, Dell unveiled a set of four new tablets. The Android models didn’t instill us with a whole lot of desire, but the manufacturer’s pair of new Windows 8.1 tablets – and full-blown, not RT, mind you – really struck a chord with us. Those were the Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro, and we brought you an early hands-on to introduce you to them. Now, we already saw orders for most of these guys open last month, but the Venue 11 Pro’s fate was a little up in the air; we knew to expect it sometime in November, but when? It looks like today’s the day, and Dell has now opened orders for the Venue 11 Pro in a number of different hardware configurations.

The base V11P runs a quad-core Bay Trail Atom at 2.4GHz, has 2GB of RAM, 64GB storage, and sells for about $500. Moving up from there, Dell offers a V11P with a 1.5GHz dual-core Core i3, 128GB storage, and 4GB RAM for $800, or with an i5 for $850 – both of those run 64-bit Windows. All three configurations have 10.8-inch 1080p displays.

The cheapest option, especially, has a chance to find itself some decent sales, as it comes off as a more capable alternative to RT tablets like the Surface 2 or Lumia 2520. Still, things get expensive quick, and adding a keyboard cover will set you back $130-$160, and then another $35 for an active stylus.

All three Venue 11 Pro builds should start shipping in early December.

Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bitsRead more about Stephen Schenck!